The Latest: Hungary: Head of 2nd-place party plans to resign

Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban, left and his spouse Aniko Levai cast their ballots at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 8, 2018. Orban is expected to win his third consecutive term, and fourth overall since 1998, as voting stations opened across the country for the election of 199 parliamentary deputies.Darko Vojinovic / AP

The head of Hungary’s right-wing nationalist Jobbik party says he is keeping his promise and will resign after Jobbik placed a distant second in the parliamentary election.

Jobbik practically repeated its showing from 2014 in Sunday’s election. Preliminary results had the party winning 19.7 per cent of the votes this time around, compared to the 20.2 per cent it received four years ago.

Leader Gabor Vona had tried to move Jobbik in a more mainstream conservative direction by expelling or sidelining some of its most radical politicians and abandoning its racist messages. But the effort didn’t translate into more votes.

While the party achieved its first win in one of the 106 individual districts, Vona had touted Jobbik as a “government-changing force.”

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11:55 p.m.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban says his “decisive” re-election to a third consecutive term and his Fidesz party’s apparent super-majority in parliament are “an opportunity to defend Hungary.”

Orban’s near-exclusive campaign focus on demonizing migration and repeated conspiracy theory that the European Union, the United Nations and wealthy philanthropist George Soros want to turn Hungary into a “immigrant country” struck a nerve, especially with rural voters in Sunday’s election.

Orban began a brief speech to cheering supporters after preliminary results were announced with a clear message: “We won.”

He also told the crowd: “We created the opportunity to defend Hungary. A great battle is behind us. We have achieved a decisive victory.”

The win is Orban’s fourth overall. He headed a Fidesz-led coalition government during 1998-2002 before returning to power in 2010.

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11:00 p.m.

Early election results in Hungary give Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing populist Fidesz party with a large lead.

Preliminary results from the National Election Office have Fidesz winning Sunday’s parliamentary election with 49.5 per cent of the vote.

If the result stands, Fidesz would hold 134 of the 199 seats in the national parliament and regain its super majority there.

With 69.1 per cent of the votes counted, the right-wing nationalist Jobbik Party was coming in second with 19.9 per cent of the votes and 27 seats.

The alliance of the left-wing Socialist and Dialogue parties had 11.8 per cent, meaning it would have 19 deputies in parliament.

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7:45 p.m.

An official from Hungary’s governing Fidesz party says the exceptionally high voter turnout in the country’s parliamentary election shows that “Hungarian democracy is strong.”

Parliamentary faction leader Gergely Gulyas said Sunday after polls closed that Hungary would have a “strong, legitimate parliament.”

Election officials said voter turnout was 68.1 per cent by 6:30 p.m. (16:30 GMT), 30 minutes before the official end of voting.

Numerous voting stations remained open after the 7:00 p.m. deadline to accommodate the long lines of people waiting to vote.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban is seeking his third consecutive term. But the fate of the 199 parliamentary seats at stake in the election is hard to predict because of the higher-than-expected turnout.

Orban’s main challengers are Gabor Vona’s nationalist Jobbik party and a left-wing alliance of the Socialist and Dialogue parties led by Gergely Karacsony.

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7:20 p.m.

Voting in Hungary’s parliamentary election officially has ended, but numerous polling places are still open to accommodate long lines of people waiting to cast ballots.

Most of the queues were made up of “transfer voters,” people such as college students or workers who requested to vote far from their hometowns.

Officials said affected voting stations would remain open until everyone in line by the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time had been able to vote.

Preliminary results are expected after 11 p.m.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban is seeking his third consecutive term and fourth overall.

Polls predicted his populist, right-wing Fidesz party would win a majority in the 199-seat legislature. But the high turnout and Hungary’s complex voting system complicated more exact predictions.

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6:00 p.m.

Hungarian election officials say voter turnout in the country’s parliamentary election 90 minutes before polls close has already exceeded the total turnout for the 2014 elections.

National Election Office figures indicated that 63.2 per cent of eligible voters had cast ballots by 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Sunday. The overall Election Day turnout in 2014 was 61.7 per cent.

Analysts say the strong participation could point either to a sweeping win for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party or a strong showing by splintered opposition groups.

Long lines could be seen outside several voting stations in Budapest, the capital city.

Election officials said voting stations would remain open until everyone waiting in line by the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time finished casting ballots.

Preliminary results are expected after 11 p.m.

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4:15 p.m.

Experts say the large turnout in Hungary’s parliamentary election could “dramatically change” the country’s politics.

Tamas Boros of the Policy Solutions think-tank says the high voter figures mean either “overwhelming support” for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s severe anti-migrant policies or the end of his populist, right-wing Fidesz party’s omnipotence.

Boros said in a tweet: “The Hungarian political landscape will dramatically change today.”

According to the National Election Office, 4.22 million voters had cast ballots by 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), for a turnout rate of 53.6 per cent four hours before the end of voting. That was the highest turnout at that hour since at least 1998.

Orban is seeking his third consecutive term and fourth overall and his campaign has been nearly exclusively about opposing migration.

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2:40 p.m.

Figures from Hungary’s National Election Office show that voters are turning out in very high numbers for the country’s parliamentary election.

Opposition leaders hope a large turnout improves their chances against Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is seeking his third consecutive term and fourth overall since 1998 in Sunday’s vote.

Over 3.3 million voters had taken part by 1 p.m. (1100 GMT), for a turnout rate of 42.3 per cent six hours before the end of voting.

Long lines of voters waited to cast ballots at some Budapest polling stations. The opposition Socialist Party urged authorities to “at least distribute water” in districts where voters were waiting in line, sometimes for hours.

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10:45 a.m.

The leader of Hungary’s right-wing nationalist Jobbik party says he expects a “surprise” result in the parliamentary elections.

Gabor Vona said Sunday he would resign and put his fate in the hands of his party if they don’t win but plans to remain in politics nonetheless.

Vona said: “I feel a surprise and a Jobbik breakthrough can be expected in the election.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party is expected to win the majority of the 199 parliamentary seats, with Vona’s Jobbik and a left-wing alliance of the Socialist Party and the Dialogue party led by Gergely Karacsony considered the leading challengers.

In the past few years, Vona, who has been party chairman since 2006, has pushed the party to abandon its frequently anti-Roma and anti-Semitic views and toward more a mainstream conservative direction.

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10:15 a.m.

Voter turnout in the first hours of voting in Hungary’s election is the highest since 1998. According to the National Election Office, 13.17 per cent of eligible voters had cast ballots by 9 a.m. (0700GMT), while in 2006 turnout was 11.39 per cent at the same hour.

Gergely Karacsony, the leading left-wing candidate for prime minster, said Sunday the high turnout was good news for those in favour of preventing Prime Minister Viktor Orban from winning his third consecutive term.

Karacsony, who heads the joint list of the Socialist Party and the Dialogue party, also said President Janos Ader, a former lawmaker for Orban’s Fidesz party, had “omitted a very serious task” by not calling for Hungarians to cast their ballots in the election.

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8 a.m.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has cast his vote in the parliamentary election, saying the ballot is about “Hungary’s future.”

Orban, who voted with his wife at a Budapest school near their home, told a crowd of reporters that he will “respect the decision” of the Hungarian voters.

Orban, who seeking his third consecutive term, and fourth overall since 1998, says he’s voting early so he could keep campaigning until polling stations close Sunday evening.

Orban, who focused his campaign on his harsh anti-migration stance, says it’s a “misunderstanding” that his frequently harsh criticism of Brussels was directed at the whole of the European Union.

He says “the EU is not in Brussels. The EU is in Berlin, in Budapest, in Warsaw, in Prague and in Bucharest. The European Union does not mean Brussels, it means the European capitals together.”

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